Lubricator



Sept. 17,1946. I IGWB lDE 2,407,842

LUBRICATOR Filed Jan. 29, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 v 1 ENTOR l6 3 BY M? y ATTORNEY .Spt. 17, 1946. T. c. M BRIDE I I 2,407,342 I LUBRICATOR Filed Jan. 29, 1943 ZSheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 17, 1946 LUBRICATOR Thomas C. McBride, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to Worthington Pump and Machinery Corporation, Harrison, N. J a corporation of Delaware Application January 29, 1943, Serial No. 473,914

1 Claim.

This invention relates to lubricators and more particularly to a novel combination of a steam pressure actuated lubricator and a valve chest of a steam engine, the steam end of a reciprocating pump or like mechanism.

Steam engines, steam pumps. and analogous devices are at times, and when used under certain conditions, provided with mechanical lubricators of a type that are operated by the alternations of live steam and exhaust pressure in the steam cylinder or other parts. These lubricators have generally been attached to the engine or pump by means of a bracket and require a pipe to supply the actuating mechanism of the lubricator with steam at alternating high and lower pressures, this steam at alternating pressures being available because of the reciprocating nature of the steam cylinder and another pipe to supply steam to heat the oil in the reservoir of the lubricator.

In my preferred arrangement that is shown in the drawings, the body of the lubricator is provided with a part so formed that it takes the place of the steam chest head of a certain form of pump. A passage leading from the operating mechanism of the lubricator to the steam space under the head provides the alternating pressures of steam from that space to the mechanism. Ample heat is conductedfrom the steam in the steam chest through the metal to the oil in the reservoir of the lubricator. Thus a very compact and simple arrangement eliminating the usual bracket and two pipes is obtained.

It is evident that the lubricator as described may also be made as part of the steam cylinder head of a steam engine or pump or for attachment in the manner of a flange at hand hole cover over any part of a steam cylinder or chest containing steam at pressures alternating high and lower; also that it is applicable to the air or gas cylinders of reciprocating compressors where the alternating intake and discharge pressures would operate the lubricator and the heat of compression supply the necessary heat.

With these and other objects in view, as may appear from the accompanying specification, the invention consists of various features of construction and combination of parts which will be first described in connection with the accompanyin drawings, showing a lubricator of the preferred form embodying the invention, and the features forming the invention will be specifically pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the steam chest of a reciprocating pump showing a lubricator attached thereto or combined therewith in the manner forming the present invention.

Figure 2 is an end view of the steam chest showing the lubricator applied.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, I indicates the cylinder of a steam engine, the cylinder of the steam end of a reciprocating pump or like structure which has a valve chest 2 attached thereto in which the steam valve mechanism 3 operates for controlling the delivery of steam to the cylinder and consequently controlling operation of the engine or steam end of the pump or analogous structures.

The steam valve ear illustrated in the drawings is of an approved type such as shown in the patents to J. A. LeCain, Nos. 1,390,625, 1,405,525, 1,969,020, and 2,082,704, and its particular structure and operation forms no part of the present invention.

The valve gear structure 3 includes an inlet to for live steam, and the live steam passes through the passage 3?) and ports 5a and 5b, under control of the reciprocating valve member 4, into the steam spaces 5 and 5'. Steam spaces are provided in the valve gear structure at the ends of the reciprocating valve structure as at 5 and 5 and in the normal construction of the valve gear the outer ends of such steam spaces 5 and 5' are closed or sealed by caps or closure plates as indicated at 6.

In the present invention, the closure plate or cap 6 is omitted from one end of the valve gear housing and. the mechanical lubricator structure generically indicated by the numeral H) has a closure plate ll formed on the housing thereof which corresponds in certain details of its construction to the closure plate 6 and this closure plate II is attached to and sets against the end of the: valve housing 2 so as to seal and close the outer end of the steam space 5 at one end of the valve housing.

The mechanical lubricator structure does not form a part of the present invention and it will be only generically described for the purpose of bringing out its combination association with the steam valve gear.

The mechanical lubricator structure which may be of any approved type such as may be purchased upon the open market includes a steam actuated piston l 2 which reciprocates in a suitable cylinder structure [4 for operating a plunger rod l5 which in turn actuates lubricant dispensing means I6 of any approved construction which forces the lubricant content in the reservoir ll within the housing to flow therefrom to parts of mechanism to be lubricated through the outlet pipes Hi. The reservoir I! is formed within the housing 2!! of the lubricator mechanism IQ of which the cap or closure plate H forms a part so that the heat of the steam in the space 5 and the heat radiated through the walls of the valve chest 2 will heat the housing 20 and consequently heat the oil or lubricant within the reservoir I! to maintain it at proper viscosity for free flowing regardless of atmos pheric temperature.

The housing 20 is provided with apass'age 2| which opens through a port 22 into the steam space 5 at one end of the valve housing 2 and also opens into the steam space 23 at the inlet end of the cylinder l4 so as to provide actuating steam for operating the plunger l5.

In view of the fact that the lubricator housing 20 is formed as a part of the valve chest or housing 2, a compact and neat appearing unit is provided. The construction is such that a fluctuating steam pressure is supplied to the lubricator 7 actuating mechanism without the necessity of exteriorly located and. unsightly piping. Since' the construction is such as to eliminate the necessity of mounting brackets and similar devices, the lubricator is so related to the valve chest as to provide an efiicient heat transfer relationship V for heating the lubricant in the containing reservoir.

What is claimed is: r

The combination of a valve chest body for a steam cylinder, said body having a piston-containing bore opening at one end through the body,

means for creating a, fluctuating steam pressure in said bore, a lubricator comprising in part a housing, pressure actuated lubricator operating means in said housing, a part of said, housing lubricator operating means to provide a' supply of fluctuating steam pressure therefor.

THOMAS C. NICBRIDE. 

